Other peoples wines

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
Broke out this Chardonnay that I got from @jgmann67 at the 2020 WW grape/juice pickup. Very nice. Insane color - think apple juice, and fantastic clarity. The apple theme follows through on the nose and in the mouth. This is a crisp chardonnay and I don't sense that it got any oak or MLF. But it has a very big mouthfeel. The very first sip felt a tad hot, but it may have just been that this is a bigger wine than I was expecting. Lots of green apple with hints of lemon/citrus and something else that I can't quite put my finger on - maybe kiwi? A really good wine, and the style of chardonnay that I typically like. Well done, Jim!

View attachment 80669

Thank you! That is Mrs Mann’s favorite kit, the Luna Bianca. I drop half the fpac in the primary along with the saw dust and oak chips. Then, once it’s clear, I’ll add the other half of the fpac. It usually stays a little below 1.000 after adding the fpac. I let it sit for six months, bottle and shelf it a while. Never disappoints.

I know what you mean about the flavors - there’s that something you just can’t put your finge on. I get the green apple and citrus. I label the rest of it as “spicy.” Not sure what. Maybe nutmeg or some other brown baking spice.
 
Thank you! That is Mrs Mann’s favorite kit, the Luna Bianca. I drop half the fpac in the primary along with the saw dust and oak chips. Then, once it’s clear, I’ll add the other half of the fpac. It usually stays a little below 1.000 after adding the fpac. I let it sit for six months, bottle and shelf it a while. Never disappoints.

I know what you mean about the flavors - there’s that something you just can’t put your finge on. I get the green apple and citrus. I label the rest of it as “spicy.” Not sure what. Maybe nutmeg or some other brown baking spice.

That's a pretty nice kit wine. Is the Luna Bianca really a CA/AUS chardonnay? Don't know why, but I thought it was a blend of a few varietals.
 
That's a pretty nice kit wine. Is the Luna Bianca really a CA/AUS chardonnay? Don't know why, but I thought it was a blend of a few varietals.

You may be right. I was going off of this description from WE:

Winexpert’s biggest, boldest white wine ever. In the spirit of the great full-bodied Chardonnays of California and Australia, Luna Bianca is lush, golden and rich. Dense, luscious, buttery aromas dance up from the glass. Flavors of tropical fruits blend with the vanilla-oak backing.
 
As you can tell it was pizza night and I paired it with @Boatboy24 Jim's 2019 Touriga. Nice nose of sweet cherries but I could never get the mid palate. Could have been strawberry, maybe cantaloupe or watermelon I just don't know but it was pleasant nonetheless. The finish was a nice long medium burn. I've been blending my Touriga with Temparnillo but I may have to try adding some Petite Sirah next time.
 

Attachments

  • Jim's 19 touriga.jpg
    Jim's 19 touriga.jpg
    1.5 MB · Views: 8
As you can tell it was pizza night and I paired it with @Boatboy24 Jim's 2019 Touriga. Nice nose of sweet cherries but I could never get the mid palate. Could have been strawberry, maybe cantaloupe or watermelon I just don't know but it was pleasant nonetheless. The finish was a nice long medium burn. I've been blending my Touriga with Temparnillo but I may have to try adding some Petite Sirah next time.

Thanks Fred. That was a field blend - 5 lugs of Touriga and 1 Tempranillo. Pizza here tonight - I was going to open a commercial Italian blend, but now you've got me thinking... 🤔
 
Thanks Fred. That was a field blend - 5 lugs of Touriga and 1 Tempranillo. Pizza here tonight - I was going to open a commercial Italian blend, but now you've got me thinking... 🤔

For some reason I thought you used PS. It does go great with pizza. You'll have to let me know what that mid palate is.
 
For some reason I thought you used PS. It does go great with pizza. You'll have to let me know what that mid palate is.

I use PS in a ton of my wines, but Tempranillo just felt better on this one. Probably because I'd had your Touriga/Tempranillo blends and that seems to work well.
 
Had this one for awhile but never knew what to pair with it. Turns out it goes very well with vegetable soup. Definitely get the melon but not so much the cucumber. Not sure where the acid came from but it balanced nicely with the little bit of residual sugar. Nice job @Boatboy24 Jim, I finish it with the vegetable this evening. Really cool color too!
 

Attachments

  • Jim's Cucumber Melon.jpg
    Jim's Cucumber Melon.jpg
    2.2 MB · Views: 21
Had this one for awhile but never knew what to pair with it. Turns out it goes very well with vegetable soup. Definitely get the melon but not so much the cucumber. Not sure where the acid came from but it balanced nicely with the little bit of residual sugar. Nice job @Boatboy24 Jim, I finish it with the vegetable this evening. Really cool color too!

Thanks Fred. Glad you like it! That's a good wine for spicy asian food. It's one of the 'mist' kits, but most of the f-pack went into the primary.
 
Some time ago, @Rice_Guy kindly gave me a special bottle of rhubarb wine. He told me that it contained crabapples to fortify the tannins, and he advised me to pair it with something meaty like a steak (which is not what I naively would have done). Honestly, this advice held me in check from opening it, as I struggled to find the right occasion. I recently had the right fare (see the Dinner thread), and got to enjoy Dave's lovely wine. It was pleasingly tart-but-balanced with a bit of sweetness. The rubarb flavors presented as fruity but not FRUITY. The tannins made their presence known, but did not steal the show. Nice job, and thanks Dave!


IMG_3600.JPG
 
Some time ago, @Rice_Guy kindly gave me a special bottle of rhubarb wine. He told me that it contained crabapples to fortify the tannins, and he advised me to pair it with something meaty like a steak (which is not what I naively would have done). Honestly, this advice held me in check from opening it, as I struggled to find the right occasion. I recently had the right fare (see the Dinner thread), and got to enjoy Dave's lovely wine. It was pleasingly tart-but-balanced with a bit of sweetness. The rubarb flavors presented as fruity but not FRUITY. The tannins made their presence known, but did not steal the show. Nice job, and thanks Dave!


View attachment 89365
I have one of those as well but mine says it has mulberry and for the same reason I haven't opened it yet.
 
Tonight, I cracked open a bottle of 2019 Tannat from @mainshipfred. I've had this for a while, and it has been worth the wait. Dark fruit (I get blueberry and cherry) along with raspberry on the nose, teaming up with vanilla and caramel. That follows on the palate, along with very smooth, but present/balanced acid and tannin. Medium/long finish. This is a very nice wine and would work well with food, or by itself.

tempImageCxHZ7x.jpg
 
Last edited:
Tonight, I cracked open a bottle of 2019 Tannat from @mainshipfred. I've had this for a while, and it has been worth the wait. Dark fruit (I get blueberry and cherry) along with raspberry on the nose, teaming up with vanilla and caramel. That follows on the palate, along with very smooth, but present/balanced acid and tannin. Medium/long finish. This is a very nice wine and would work well with food, or by itself.

View attachment 95234
Good timing!
Thanks Fred. Glad you like it! That's a good wine for spicy asian food. It's one of the 'mist' kits, but most of the f-pack went into the primary.

I needed to stumble on this. I'll be making a 'fun' kit this week. I want the flavor, but not the sweet. You inadvertently gave me the answer.
:b

Edit: Glad you enjoyed it. It's not all about me, after all.. 😄
 
Last edited:
Looking at this from the other side… some of my friends are very nice about not telling me my wine sucks. They deflect any real comment on my wine and explain the type of wine they like, which is not my overly acidic
Marquette. I’m hoping to change their mind with my 2022 vintage. I joined a wine club and have been able to taste several homemade wines, one of the best was made from grape jam.
 
Looking at this from the other side… some of my friends are very nice about not telling me my wine sucks. They deflect any real comment on my wine and explain the type of wine they like, which is not my overly acidic
Marquette. I’m hoping to change their mind with my 2022 vintage. I joined a wine club and have been able to taste several homemade wines, one of the best was made from grape jam.
You are supposed to look at them with a grin on your face and answer,"I make it the way I like it." Arne.
 
You are supposed to look at them with a grin on your face and answer,"I make it the way I like it." Arne.

Since I went away from winemaking and toward drier commercial wines, my friends shun the bottles I bring to parties. They want sweet, the way I used to make it! I suppose this fall when the muscadines come in...
 
Since I went away from winemaking and toward drier commercial wines, my friends shun the bottles I bring to parties. They want sweet, the way I used to make it! I suppose this fall when the muscadines come in...
Many moons ago, friends and I frequented a restaurant that had a rotating wine list, and we often sampled the new wines. One night an older couple (probably my current age, this long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away) nervously asked what to drink with steak, as they didn't like red wine. They were surprised when I told them white wine. While there are good reasons why reds are paired with steak, if they didn't like reds, why drink it?

Folks like what they like. It appears you have a mission! ;)
 
Last edited:
Many moons ago, friends and I frequented a restaurant that had a rotating wine list, and we often sampled the new wines. One night an older couple (probably my current age, this long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away) nervously asked what to drink with steak, as they didn't like white wine. They were surprised when I told them white wine. While there are good reasons why reds are paired with steak, if they didn't like reds, why drink it?

Folks like what they like. It appears you have a mission! ;)

For the word I emphasized above, you meant "red," right?
 
A few months ago my son & I visited @VinesnBines and her husband at their vineyard in the mountain of Virginia (west end of state), and they gave us a sample of numerous wines. I have custody of the bottles and only open one when my son is present. Today we bottled the last gallon of last year's Elderberry, and topped barrels. Then we opened a split of Beth's Cranberry/ Currant wine.

WOW! The wine has a bit of tartness to it, strong fruity nose, and a very lingering aftertaste.

It probably would have gone well with the stir fry I made for dinner ... but ... well ... it didn't last that long. :)
 

Latest posts

Back
Top